FRONTIERS OF ZOOLOGYDale A. Drinnon has been a researcher in the field of Cryptozoology for the past 30+ years and has corresponded with Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. He has a degree in Anthropology from Indiana University and is a freelance artist and writer. Motto: "I would rather be right and entirely alone than wrong in the company with all the rest of the world"--Ambroise Pare', "the father of modern surgery", in his refutation of fake unicorn horns.

A gigantic sea beast measuring 55ft has been discovered washed up on a beach in Guangdong, China. It was found wrapped in fishing lines, leading locals to suspect that fishermen cut it free from their nets because it was too big to haul in.Sea-ing is believing: Locals gather around the monstrous corpseThe creature is too badly decomposed to be positively identified by sight, but it’s thought to have weighed around 4.5tons.

Despite the carcass’s extraordinary smell, it’s proved to be quite a big draw for people living in the area.

Three marine biology experts — Scott Baker of Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, Bill Perrin, from the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Bob Brownell, from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's Fisheries Service – were all shown photographs of the creature by Live Science.Coasting along: This map shows the area where the monster was washed upTheir conclusion is that, based on its throat grooves, the creature is a whale.

Mr Baker told the journal: ‘Judging from the reported size of 55 ft, it’s maybe a fin whale. From the photo, however, it does not really look to be 55 ft, and so might be a smaller balaenopterid, like one of the “Bryde's” whales.’He added: ‘We all hope somebody collects the bones and a tissue sample for genetic analysis as recovery of whale carcasses is rare along the coast of China.'

Theory: Some marine experts believe the carcass could be that of a fin whale, pictured here

[Nobody seems to have mentioned that a live fin whale would weigh at least ten times the listed 4.5 tons: evidently this corpse is mostly an empty bag of blubber, as so many others are-DD]

1 comment:

Markus Hemmler also sends in this information independantly, together with his permission to post it:

After various other newspapers around the world (at least in GB and Germany) have published this (old) story I've searched for more information re this case. I found two "new" pictures and therefore I've wrote this short article:

Summertime. In April a ,55 Feet Long Unknown Fish Species' has washed ashore near Guangdong, China, what was published for the first time in May 2011 for example from Cryptomundo. Nearly two months have left since but now some newspapers around the world publish the story (again) and so the carcass is object of various discussions what it could be.

For those confident with whales and whale carcasses it's obviously another decomposed whale (and therefore a mammal not a fish as said in many articles btw). The picture shown widely within english sources is from lower quality nevertheless there are two better ones available on chinese websites (check the sources below). On the left side of both pictures lies the tail and rests of the tail fluke so on the right side of both pictures we have the head or rostrum. This indicates that the bone sticking out of the sand near the rostrum is nothing more than one of the curved lower jaws of a rorqual whale. From the tip of the decomposed rostrum to the estimated middle of the body we can identify ventral grooves what is absolutly typical for rorquals.

So all characteristics and also opinions of scientists like for example Scott Baker of Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute agree to the same identity: it's a rorqual. The only question remaining is what species of rorqual. If we accept the length of 55 feet it has to be one of the greater whales like Fin-, Sei- or Blue whale. But according to most chinese sources the length of the carcass was only 13 meters (42 feet) - what is also the opinion of Mr. Baker and myself - so it could also be a Bryde's whale (with a maximum length around 15,5 meters for this species). Identifying the exact species is difficult from these pictures as they show no distinct feature for identification like for example the carcass of Ataka, Egypt, of 1950 has done (three ridges on the dorsal side of the rostrum identifiying it clearly as Bryde's whale; for a detailed identification see http://www.kryptozoologie-online.de/Dracontologie/Salzwasserkryptide/ataka-kadaver.html).

The whale was buried for now but as whale strandings in China are rare the chinese officials will examine the carcass later.

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